Whole blood viscosity assessment issues V: Prevalence in hypercreatinaemia, hyperglycaemia and hyperlipidaemia

BACKGROUND: Diabetes and kidney failure are chronic diseases that are associated with cardiovascular complications, while dyslipidaemia is a strong risk factor. Hyperviscosity is believed to be associated and managed with antiplatelet, but not routinely assessed. AIMS: This work investigates the prevalence of hyperviscosity in diabetes, dyslipidaemia and renal failure with a view to determine the proportion of patients who may not require antiplatelet therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Archived clinical pathology data for the period of 1999 to 2008 were utilized. 50,162-cases concomitantly tested for blood sugar, creatinine and lipid profile, as well as haematocrit and total proteins in five alternate years were extracted. The prevalence of different viscosity ranges associated with positive results was evaluated. RESULTS: Hyperviscosity is about 4% prevalent in hyperglycemia and hyperlipidaemia, less in hypercreatinaemia. Hypoviscosity has statistically significantly the least <2.5% prevalent, while normoviscosity is most prevalent. Reverse analyses affirm that higher levels of hyperglycemia and hyperlipidaemia are statistically significant more associated with fourth compared to first quartile viscosity (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Previous report demonstrated that hypoviscosity is synonymous to high international normalized ratio where anticoagulant/antiplatelet is not recommended. This study demonstrates that up to 97.5% of cases investigated for chronic diseases could benefit from antiplatelet medication. This report corroborates with previous reports that hyperviscosity may not be very frequent. However, the level of stasis associated with laboratory evidence-based chronic disease affirms that the subclinical vasculopathy should be managed, and laboratory monitoring will provide clinical evidence base.